2. Most people have some sort of a secret in their lives. Who doesn't enjoy looking at the way other people choose to hide or reveal their own secrets and their motivations for doing so?
3. A mysterious secret adds extra tension to a story: perhaps the reader knows the secret but the protagonist doesn't; or maybe one of the characters knows the secret but the others don't: either way, you'll be on the edge of you seat waiting to see how and to whom the secret's going to come out - and what effect it'll have.
4. Secrets mean the reader has to do some guesswork - and don't you just love to be an armchair sleuth?
5. Secrets that are very well buried make excellent, unpredictable plot twists.
6. In this day and age, when we plaster our lives publicly over social media, there's something that's both attractive and slightly menacing about those who choose to hold something back. Doesn't it just beg the question 'what are you hiding? And why?'!
7. If there's a secret, you know it's going to be good: a secret is a secret for a reason! Often it's shocking, shameful or downright scandalous - and we all like to imagine how we might react if we ever found such a secret in our loved ones' lives.
8. We've all been in a position where we've been privy to a secret - even the inner debate we have with ourselves about whether to reveal the secret or keep it is good fodder for fiction.
9. Family secrets are particularly satisfying: it's always intriguing to imagine what the elderly did when they were young - maybe they have a seedy past that they've buried under a veil of respectability. We all love to uncover these things and look with new eyes at old Aunt Bertha sitting in her bath chair!
10. Ultimately, the best thing about secrets is they always come out!
